Campaigning for ‘New York Nice’

In New York City, where a car horn is considered an extension of a driver’s arm and pedestrians often get run over by other pedestrians, there is a startling new concept: New York Nice.

Civic leaders have launched a $150,000 campaign to take the bad out of the big bad city by training New Yorkers to be friendlier to the 25 million visitors who pass through each year. Last month, a public-private partnership began a five-year sensitivity program designed to teach 50,000 cops, airport, seaport and subway workers and other city employees the importance of being polite.

In large part, the campaign was launched to coincide with America’s largest convention of international tour operators, which landed in New York in late May.

Tour packages offered by the convention’s 7,000 delegates collectively account for about 80% of the 45 million foreigners who visit the United States each year. The perceptions of New York that they took home conceivably could affect the city’s $14-billion tourism industry for years.

“We want to dispel the image that New York City is a cold, inhospitable place,” Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said. “Personally, I think most New Yorkers are just fine the way they are. But, of course, we do have some people who could stand to be more polite.”